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One of my favourite side dishes has to be
cheesy broccoli rice
which is a quick and easy dish where with the amazing broccoli and cheddar cheese flavour combo! Ever since I discovered quinoa I have been trying my favourite rice dishes with the rice replaced with the healthier quinoa and it was finally time to try a cheesy broccoli quinoa! This dish is super easy to make and you pretty much just cook the quinoa with the broccoli and then mix in the cheese once the quinoa and broccoli are cooked. Some of the things that I like about this recipe are that it is a one pot dish and that it is a stove top dish which is great for holiday dinners where there never seems to be enough oven space or time. I think I now have a new favourite side dish!

Kevin, that looks yummy! Thanks for sharing the great recipe, I never would have thought of using quinoa in place of the rice! Quinoa's become a favorite of mine, but not of my teenage son and my husband. :O(

Super easy, YES. But something strange happened with my quinoa. It has disintegrated into mush. Cheesy, chickeny, broccoli yummy mush. Except for the bits that haven't finished cooking, which are hard and crunchy. O_o

I suspect it is totally operator error. I am making it in an electric skillet, an ancient electric skillet. I don't even have a closet to cook in, I have a table to cook on. No storage and no stove so I'm doing the best I can. I can't wait to move out of my studio and into a place with a kitchen. Woof!

Do you ever use a rice cooker, Kevin? I do my quinoa in there too. I just love that you can leave it and not have to worry. I will try this recipe in there, though I may half it as my cooker is a smallish one.

I had quinoa I bought for another recipe I never used. I thought I would try this recipe. I had all the ingredients except the brocoli. Instead I used zucchini as the recipe said you may substitute it for the brocoli.

I did everything the recipe said, but unfortunately I didn't like it at all. The vegetable stock and cheese together tasted absolutely awful. I'm not a picky eater, but this is by far the worse thing I've ever tasted.

ExPat_Riot: What kind of broth did you use? Is it one that you have used before? These are the exact same ingredients and flavours that are in broccoli and cheddar soup and the broth and cheese combo should not be a bad one.

Yazmin: I am glad that you enjoyed it! Was the quinoa mushy right when you opened the lid after cooking? Was there still water in the bottom of the pan? Did you rinse the quinoa or was it pre-rinsed? Thanks!

I make quinoa all the time in my rice cooker with diced vegetables and vegetable broth (better than boullion brand concentrate >not< canned broth, but there is a vegetable boullion cube I've been wanting to try that is supposed to also be very good - Rapunzel brand), and add either cheddar or reggiano, and it's always delicious. To the person who said it was the worst thing they ever tasted, I wonder if they bought uncleaned quinoa, which would need to be soaked (for a few hours in cool water), cleaned and rinsed before cooking to remove the bitter coating. I buy it pre-washed organic from Costco, just give a quick rinse, and it never tastes bad. Might want to back off on the liquid by a few tablespoons - 1/4 cup to compensate for the moisture from the vegetables, but I always add green onion, diced red pepper, and mushrooms to mine.

Anonymous: I used to use my rice cooker to cook quinoa all the time as well but then it died so I am back to the stove top. Excellent point about the quinoa possibly being un-rinsed. If it was not pre-rinsed it should definitely be rinsed before being used.

Hey Kevin,I made this yesterday and me and my husband loved it. I just had a problem though, mine didn't look as good the one that you have in the picture. It looked more like mash potato but it still tasted great. I was wondering where I went wrong in the procedure or does it have to do with the quinoa that I am using.

I made mine with chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, since its what I had. When it came time to add the salt and pepper I added about a tsp of ground mustard too.. just like when you make mac n cheese from scratch... so good!

This was great! I doubled this and just dumped everything (cheese included!) into the rice cooker and it turned out fabulous. And I liked it better later on when it was cold, too. Will be making this many more times. Thank you!!

Barbi: Glad you enjoyed it! A rice cooker is perfect for this making it even easier easy! Ham goes so well with broccoli and cheddar and the addition turns this into a meal rather than just a side dish!

I made this last night and it turned out great! I added some chicken and ate it as a main dish. The only thing I did differently was used 2 cups of water/broth and used low sodium chicken bouillon cause that is all I had.

I made this for my family about a month ago. First time any of us had ever had quinoa. The guys tolerated it; my daughter and I liked it. In a completely surprising twist my daughter just asked me to make it again! Thanks for a great recipe!

So I made this tonight, weary from the negative reviews saying it was bland. I used chicken broth since that's what I had, I sauteed onion and garlic in the pot before adding the quinoa and broccoli, I added a dash of red pepper flakes and cayenne, and I saw in the comments to add ground,mustard. I had a cheese blend not strictly cheddar. It was DELICIOUS, definitely a keeper. My toddler asked for seconds and thirds. The biggest mistake I made was cutting the recipe in half, I figured it's just us two tonight so half will be enough, ! We both were left wanting more. Simple and delicious, thank you!

I have so many of your recipes in my printed favorites recipe book (all have the Closet Cooking logo on them). I was wondering if I could substitute white rice for the Quinoa? We are not a fan of quinoa but this sounds yummy with rice. Was wondering about the liquid ratio for the rice.

Just made this tonight and served simple seasoned cubed chicken on top. I love quinoa as is but this was outrageously good. My boyfriend said I need to add cheese to quinoa all the time from now on. I did however burn the quinoa a bit. I thought that the water was too low considering one dry cup of quinoa is cooked in two cups of water and it should have been increased if anything due to the addition of the broccoli. Everyone has different stove tops and pots though. I know next time to use 2 cups of liquid. Thanks again!

Anonymous: I am glad that you enjoyed it! I tend to use a slightly less that 2:1 ration (1 3/4 cup liquid to 1 cup quinoa) in order to ensure that the quinoa does not turn mushy. If you rise the quinoa first then it is already going to have water in it so you need even less. The broccoli in this dish is also going to release liquid.

This recipe was delicious, but one word of caution for those who care. I personally hate overcooked broccoli (I would rather eat it raw than overcooked). I intentionally cut it a bit larger and put it in after two minutes of cooking the quinoa (15 minutes total cook time) but it was still overcooked for my taste. Next time I will try waiting until approximately the 5-7 minute mark before I put the broccoli in. Also, be aware that broccoli may continue to cook from carry-over heat unless you remove the lid and serve the dish quickly. Don't consider reducing the overall cook time, as the quinoa needs at least 15 minutes to become nice and fluffy. Also, to achieve that nice fluffy texture, see Kevin's post on December 3, 2013 at 7:48 PM, regarding the liquid ratio and vegetable of choice possibly releasing extra liquid. I would definitely make this again. Kevin, thank you for the wide variety of quinoa recipes you have posted. I look forward to trying many more of them.

I loved this when I tried it out after finding it on Pinterest a couple of months back I looked and tasted great, I used a vegetable stock cube. I forgot to come back leave a comment last time. making it again today cant wait till dinner time! Thank you for your lovely recipes.

I had never had quinoa before, and my family and I were excited and nervous to give it a try. I made this the other night with a pork chop dinner, and it was fantastic! Very different from anything else, and I look forward to using the quinoa in the future too. Thanks is much for the recipe. :)

Pretty nice recipe, thank you! I do it than meal in Redmond 4502 multicooker for my children, it is much faster and gets on time when children are at home. The similar recipe is in cook book, but your changed.

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About Me

I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.